Acute reactions in terms of acute respiratory failure have not been described so far. Case report: The present case report introduces a year old male patient who developed acute respiratory failure after sawing a concrete block for several hours without wearing a face mask.
Save for a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease he was unremarkable for his past medical history. Severely obstructed breathing sounds and coarse bubbling rales over both lungs were audible. After endotracheal intubation, a great deal of white viscous mucus could be aspirated via the tubus.
They'll ask you about your symptoms and work history, and listen to your lungs with a stethoscope. They'll want to know about any periods when you may have been exposed to silica and whether you were issued with any safety equipment, such as a face mask, when you were working. If silicosis is suspected, you may be referred to a specialist for further tests to confirm the diagnosis. A test for TB may also be recommended because you're more likely to get TB if you have silicosis.
There's no cure for silicosis because the lung damage can't be reversed. Treatment aims to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life. The condition may continue to get worse, leading to further lung damage and serious disability, although this may happen very slowly over many years. You may be offered long-term oxygen therapy if you're having difficulty breathing and have low levels of oxygen in your blood. Bronchodilator medicines may also be prescribed to widen your airways and make breathing easier.
You'll be given a course of antibiotics if you develop a bacterial chest infection. In very severe cases, a lung transplant may be an option, although there are strict health requirements to meet before this will be considered. In the UK, all workplaces must comply with The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations , which sets a workplace exposure limit for silica.
You can read more detailed information about the control of exposure to silica dust on the Health and Safety Executive website. Therefore silica is found widespread across the mining, construction, and engineering sectors all throughout the world. Left within its material, silica is safe. Respirable crystalline silica is the dust that is released from the silica-containing materials during high-energy operations such as sawing, cutting, drilling, sanding, chipping, crushing, or grinding.
These very fine particles of the crystalline silica are now released into the air becoming respirable dust. Common scenarios where people may be exposed to respirable crystalline silica dust include abrasive blasting, mining and excavating, cement, steel and ceramic production, and many many more. Miners often extract high-silica-content rock from the coal seam or the surrounding strata. Large quantities of silica dust can be generated during cutting and can become entrained in the ventilating air, which can carry the dust to the breathing zones of mine workers.
Find out more about Howden Mine Ventilation. High levels of dust can be produced when cement is handled, for example when emptying or disposing of bags.
Scabbling or concrete cutting can also produce high levels of dust that may contain silica. Find out more about Howden's Centrifugal Fans used during cement production. Silica dust is very fine, much smaller than a tiny grain of sand found on a beach. This is what makes it so easy to inhale. If you look at the full stop at the end of the previous sentence, that is around micrometres in diameter.
Whereas the respirable crystalline silica particle is only 5 micrometres in size. If inhaled it can create a health hazard all the way from simple and instant irritation to life-changing and often life-threatening lung diseases.
Crystalline silica is a designated known human carcinogen meaning it is a definite cause of cancer in humans. Once you breathe it in it can go deep into your lungs and stay there - permanently scarring and damaging the lung tissue.
Breathing this dust over a long period of time can eventually lead to life-changing and very serious lung diseases such as emphysema, bronchitis and silicosis. As well as lung cancer, kidney disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD. The chances of developing these diseases increase with higher and longer durations of exposure. FACT: Approximately 2.
Over construction workers are believed to die from exposure to silica dust every year. Silicosis is an incurable and irreversible lung disease that results from the inhalation of silica dust which inflames and scars the lungs causing shortness of breath, coughing, and over time it can be a potentially fatal condition resulting in death.
The common length of time for silicosis to develop when being exposed regularly is between 10 and 20 years. But, in some cases with extremely heavy silica exposure it can develop within a few months to a year.
In-depth… Once the very fine silica dust particles are breathed in they go deep into the lung where it is attacked by the immune system.
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